Science and meditation

A three-day international conference on ‘Science and Meditation’ was held in November 2002 at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences (founded by Swami Rama) located on the Rishikesh Dehradun highway. The conference was organised by the Sadhana Mandir Trust (Rishikesh).

The conference saw a good gathering of spiritual leaders, social scientists and psychologists from India, America and Germany.

The present spiritual guide of the trust, Swami Veda Bharati, described meditation as: ‘‘The unaltered state of consciousness or superconsciousness. Con-sciousness is constant. Our wakeful experiences, dreams and fears are the alterations.’’ Underlining the benefits of meditation he said: ‘‘With the awareness of who I truly am, I rediscover my own brightness. In this brightness, you can see more clearly.’’

The highlight of the conference was understanding the essence of meditation as practised by different religions—Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism—all pointing to the need to connect within for a truer understanding of God.

Speaking at the conference, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan said: ‘‘Meditation is the science of spirituality, a unique kind of journey from darkness to light, chaos to conviction, seeking to finding, nothing to everything.’’

There were also many psychologists who came with their papers involving years of research work. What emerged was the scientific basis of meditation and a growing evidence of the benefits derived from meditation, especially for psychological disorders.

Sherrie Wade, a mental health counsellor in Florida, stated: ‘‘Most of the psychological problems originate from a lack of knowledge of the self. Meditation tunes us to that which is beyond the mind. In that cessation you experience the purity that you are (asampragyat), a samadhi beyond the name, form and meaning—beyond the relative state of existence.’’

An international conference of this kind suggests the growing relevance of meditation in our lives.